


Sharing Warmth

by TheCrowMaiden



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Family Dynamics, Fluff, Gen, Literal Sleeping Together, Platonic Cuddling, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, everyone is a family, i love platonic sleep cuddles so much you have no idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 21:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8769985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrowMaiden/pseuds/TheCrowMaiden
Summary: An unexpected winter storm on Pulse has the l'Cie near freezing even after they find shelter, so they end up huddling together for warmth.Just a fluffy little piece with them all cuddling together, because I live for platonic sleeping together in the literal sense. I have no idea if Pulse has seasons but for the sake of this story we're going to assume it does!





	

It started as a grey kind of day, one where the rising sun was blocked by clouds and the open grasslands of Pulse were cooled by a light breeze. But by the afternoon, it had turned to a cold wind that stole the warmth from every part of their exposed skin. The group of l’Cie struggled against the strength of the air currents that cut through the plains as they made their way toward one of the many rock formations that edged the Archylte Steppe.

“What the hell is wrong with this place?” Sazh groaned, rubbing his arms as the snow started. “I figured with the way you two dressed, it never got cold down here!”

“Well, you were wrong.” Fang was wrapping the trailing end of her skirt around her thighs as she scanned the cliff face, tying the material into a snug knot. “And it’s going to get colder before it gets warmer, so we need to find shelter if we want to make it through the night.”

Visibility became limited in seconds as the snowflakes were whipped into their faces, turning everything white. Sazh’s eyes began watering so much that he had to hold onto Fang so he wouldn’t get separated from the group, and even Fang had to hold her hand over her brow as a shield against the elements.

With her short cape wrapped around her face and neck like a scarf, Lightning’s eyes were thankfully somewhat protected as she looked around. At the very least they weren’t watering as much, and she kept moving forward as she scoured the horizon for anything that looked like shelter. After a silent minute of struggle, she noticed a darker spot amongst the rocks from her viewpoint a few feet ahead of the others and pointed at it with her gunblade.

“That looks like it could be a cave,” She said, and when she didn’t get a response, she pulled down her makeshift scarf and repeated herself louder. The cold bit sharply into her warmed cheeks as she did, and she pushed her bangs back when the wind blew them into her face.

“Then let’s hurry up and take a look, the kids are freezing!” Snow yelled back to her, frowning as he looked in the direction Lightning had indicated.

While Snow didn’t seem to mind the cold so much himself, his concern for the others was starting to make him agitated so Lightning let him catch up with her before she started toward the cliffs. He had Hope under one arm and Vanille under the other, doing his best to shelter the youngest l’Cie using his coat and his own sizable body. He’d given Vanille the sash from around his waist and given Hope his bandanna, and Lightning felt a twinge of pity for the way the two of them shivered even with the extra protection from the chill. It was no wonder even Snow was starting to lose his good humour.

Luckily the dark spot she had seen _was_ a cave, and they all crowded into it without much thought for what might already be living there. It was empty of both life and evidence of it when Vanille cast a small fire spell to look around though. There weren’t even the bones of some creature’s dinner tucked in a corner, just bare stone and some dirt. Though it was less than ten feet wide, the cave was over twice as long and they instinctively made for the far end.

The absence of the wind was a blessing but it was barely warmer inside all the same, their breath clouding the air with every breath. Lightning’s skin still burned from the cold, and she was sure she could hear Hope’s teeth chattering.

“You’re telling me this is going to keep us from freezing?” Sazh asked Fang, shivering as they all continued toward the back of the cave.

“Better than being out there, that’s for damn sure,” She replied, using her spear to poke around ahead to make sure they didn’t trip in the faint light from Lightning’s pauldron. “We’d be dead for sure if we were outside.”

“She’s right,” Lightning said, although she sympathized with Sazh. “We wouldn’t last an hour without shelter.”

“That still doesn’t solve the problem of it being colder than hell in here.” Sazh pointed out. “We can’t use magic all night, we’ll run out of energy and then we’ll really be in trouble.”

“We have the emergency blankets I took from the _Palamecia…_ ”

“Yeah, two of them. We can’t keep six people warm with two blankets, Solider girl!”

“Guys, stop. There’s a simple solution,” Snow said, putting a hand on Lightning’s shoulder before she could lose her temper. “We’ll just share.”

“ _Share?_ ” Lightning, Sazh, and Fang asked in unison.

“Yeah, share.” Snow shrugged. “I’ve already got the kids sharing my coat, why don’t we all just pile together and add the blankets on top? We’ll probably be really comfortable.”

“Sounds good to me!” Vanille said, peeking out from under Snow’s arm. “Right, Fang?”

Fang rolled her eyes and looked as if she was about to object, but relented when Vanille pouted.

“Alright, sure, works for me too.” Fang shrugged, smiling indulgently at Vanille. “Let’s all get cuddly then.”

Leaving the shelter of Snow’s coat reluctantly, Hope and Vanille let him get settled onto the cave floor. He sat with his back to the wall, his coat pulled up to his waist so he wasn’t sitting on it and patted the ground next to him with a grin. Hope took up the silent invitation first, curling back up against Snow’s side with a shiver and drawing as much of the coat edges over himself as he could. Snow tugged his bandanna down farther onto Hope’s head, and laughed when Hope grumbled at him.

Rather than Vanille returning to Snow’s other side though, Fang flopped down next to him, elbowing him in the ribs and leaning against his shoulder as she held out her arm. Vanille grabbed Sazh by the hand and dragged him over with her as she sat and immediately snuggled into Fang with a sound of contentment. Sazh, after a moment in which the chocobo chick abandoned him to settle with the girls, sat down with his back up against Vanille’s side and unfolded the one emergency blanket with a long-suffering sigh.

That left Lightning. 

Somewhat uncertain she took a step toward Hope, and then stopped. Her unease was lessened when he turned to smile at her and reached out a hand though, so she awkwardly sat down next to him with a few inches of space between them. But the second she did Snow pulled her in closer, squashing her against Hope and forcing her to turn so she didn’t end up with a cramp in her side. It just seemed natural at that point to wrap her arms around Hope, so his back was against her chest even as she muttered under her breath about idiots who thought they could manhandle her.

Sazh, who had the benefit of not being tangled up with anyone, tossed the second blanket over her and tried to get at least part of it onto Snow as well. There was a slight overlap between the two blankets and the end result didn’t look bad in Lightning’s opinion. It was definitely warmer, and Lightning smiled when she saw the colour coming back into Hope’s face.

Apart from the odd sigh or slight movement, they all settled into each other quietly. It was almost hard to believe a storm was raging just outside it was so comfortable. The light from the bars on Lightining’s Guardian Corps pauldron was just enough to illuminate everyone’s faces but not enough to be disturbing, and Lightning was almost dozing when Fang spoke up.

“Looks like Snow was right, this is pretty damn nice,” Fang said, breaking the silence as she yawned and Vanille nuzzled into her.

Lightning opened her eyes just in time to see Snow smile broadly, and she reached over Hope to poke him in the chest.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” she said, trying not to smirk over how she could feel Hope laughing silently. Judging from the partly put-out and partly amused look on Snow’s face, he could feel it too and Lightning knew she was losing the battle to appear serious.

“You’re just lucky we all like each other enough to share.”


End file.
